Maternity Services

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the viability of the community midwifery model being developed by the Independent Midwives Association.

Ivan Lewis: holding answer 22 February 2007
	No assessment has been carried out centrally. It is for primary care trusts (PCTs) in partnership with strategic health authorities and other local stakeholders to determine which models best suit the local needs of women and the midwifery workforce. This process provides the means for addressing local needs within the health community including the provision of maternity services.
	Ministers and officials have met with the Independent Midwives Association (IMA) over the past three years to discuss their proposal of a national health service community midwifery model. Following on from these discussions, the IMA have identified a group of midwives and PCTs who are willing to test the model and help to create an outline contract. That process is continuing.

Surgeon Productivity

Gordon Prentice: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment she has made of the productivity of surgeons who work both for the NHS and the private sector in their  (a) NHS and  (b) private sector work; and if she will make a statement.

Rosie Winterton: The Department does not examine the productivity of single staff groups. Delivering high quality healthcare services relies on all staff working together as a team and it is not possible to disentangle the input of single groups.
	However, the Department commissioned York University to undertake an analysis using hospital episode statistics data to examine activity rates for consultants in five surgical and five medical specialties across the national health service to support local discussion of consultant clinical activity. It did not look at support staff, teaching and research responsibilities and is intended as a benchmarking tool to support investigation of productivity and best practice at a local level. The results were published in October 2005 in "Delivering Quality and Value: Consultant Clinical Activity" which is available in the Library.